Friday, February 21, 2014

And I’m celebrating!This is a student that came into my classroom at the beginning of the
year and stared at the floor.When I wanted to be sure he was listening I would get down on the floor
and look up at him. This student
not only was uninterested in reading, I was having a difficult time trying to
find books to appeal to him because of his unresponsiveness.I had never seen anything like it!And today…. Today I actually had to tell him to close his book for a moment
so he could participate in our mini lesson on making inferences.Then I promised him he could continue
to read and use his book to practice inferring.He agreed, albeit begrudgingly.Truth be told, I would have loved to have just let him
continue reading.I had been
waiting a long time for this day and I just want to revel it.The site of this student so engrossed
in a book that he was able shut out all distractions around him, made me feel
like I had just won the lottery!

It seems hard to believe but last week I had another student
make a profound revelation that set my heart racing as well.After our mini lesson in workshop, the
student looked up at me, smiled and commented, “I used to just read to be
‘done’.Now I get it.”I think I stared at him in what I can
only image was shock and asked him to repeat his statement. I had to be sure I
had heard him right.He repeated
it.I had him heard correctly.I wanted to jump up and down and clap
my hand and dance around the classroom.I had made a difference!

This is what we reading teachers dream of, students that
“get reading”. It’s one of the best feelings in the world. I could use a dose of this every day
but feel so lucky to have experienced it two weeks in a row. I can only hope we have started a
trend.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

This year
our principal challenged all of us to choose our “word” for the year. A word to inspire us not only as we
start the year, but to provide a focus for ourselves and our students as we
move though the challenges of the coming school year. Without hesitation I chose the word “believe”. This has been my unofficial “word” for
many years. When I’ve had challenges
in life, whether as a teen, a college student, a mom, a teacher, I’ve focused
on the power of believe, believing everything would be all right. Believing I
could do what others told me was impossible. Believing I could achieve my dreams. Believing my children could achieve
their dreams. So it was
natural that I chose “believe” as the word for my classroom.

I
didn’t do anything special.I simply
wrote the word in red marker across a sheet of typing paper and posted it on
the chalkboard in the front of the classroom.I told the students that it was our “word” for the
year.In our classroom there would
be no giving up, no “it’s too hard”, no excuses.This became our classroom policy.If a student complains that something is too hard, I simply
walk to the chalkboard and point to “believe”.If that doesn’t do the trick, we all remind the student to
believe.It has almost become a chat
for us, “Believe.You can do it. PMA
(positive mental attitude)! Believe!” Corny as it may sound, it works.The student sees that I believe,
classmates believe, finally the student begins to believe.

Is it the
power of the word at work? Is it the power of realizing that the teacher and
classmates believe?Is it the
positive energy generated?Whatever the reason, the energy created is palpable and students are
changing.They believe in
themselves.